Doug Marrone: "We are disappointed in our performance"

The Bills head coach talks about Kevin Kolb's injury, what the team will have to do at the quarterback position, and the team's lack of making plays against the Redskins.

August 24, 2013

FedExField

Buffalo Bills Head Coach Doug Marrone

On the game:

“Obviously, we are disappointed in our performance. We had a chance to make some plays early on in the game and didn’t. They, in turn, did and were able to score. We were able to come back, which was a good thing early on. We started going down the field with a chance to respond again, go down the field to potentially take the lead and we turned the ball over. On that ensuing drive, they went down and scored. I think at the end of the day, we have to find a way to make those plays and take advantage of that opportunity. We have to continue to keep working on the fundamentals. As I said before, camp is not over. It is a work in progress and we have a lot of work ahead of us. I think we left some plays out there. We have to just go out there and make some plays.”

“I was made aware just now that there are various reports out there. I knew that the situation did occur prior to us playing. I didn’t know any facts or anything. I just became aware of the media reports now. I have no idea of what is true and what is going on. As far as I know, he knew something was happening personally, but we didn’t have any information prior to the game. No one knows all of the facts, so we are not going to comment at this time.”

“All I know now are concussion-like symptoms. I am just waiting to hear from the doctors.”

On having only one healthy quarterback:

“We will be looking at bringing quarterbacks in. We had a plan going into the season. Obviously, [wide receiver] Brad [Smith] is part of those plans, as well as [running back] Fred Jackson.”

On the amount of reps the top two quarterbacks have taken this preseason:

“It is a concern. I’m not going to sit here and say everything is fine and dandy. The way I look at it is that [quarterback] E.J. [Manuel] was playing very well for us, doing a heck of a job and we need to get him back as soon as we can, but [quarterback] Kevin [Kolb] has missed some things and we needed to get him in there to get some reps. [Quarterback] Jeff [Tuel] has gotten most of the reps and you saw tonight that there are some things we have to do a better job getting him prepared for and he has to do a better job executing on the field. It is a concern and we knew that going in. I made the decision that we are going to go into the season with three quarterbacks and we were going to get them all ready. This is the situation we have to deal with.”

On the large amount of time quarterback Jeff Tuel has seen this preseason:

“We liked him from the beginning. I said that right off the bat. The thought process was a decision, that I said. I went to management and I wanted to go to camp with three quarterbacks, knowing that we wanted to give them a lot of reps. We wanted to get them ready and we really liked them a lot. You’ve seen times where all three of them have done some nice things, and we had to do that because we didn’t want to lose any reps with those guys. We wanted to give them the most reps we could. At the end of the day, you don’t think you’re just giving the one guy the majority of the reps because of the injuries.”

On if quarterback E.J. Manuel could return to practice before the regular season:

“Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping for. You have a procedure done. He was with us on the field the other day – not just watching and observing. I think you just have to wait for that period when the doctor looks at him and says, ‘Okay, here’s where we are,’ because people recover so differently from minor stuff.”

“Searcy, I can’t remember what he told me during the game – in for observations on his head. Then, with Gilmore, I think it was his hand.”

On if he talked to quarterback Kevin Kolb when exited the game:

“Yeah, I didn’t see anything. I think that when I went back and they said that he had the symptoms, I kind of went through the series again in my mind. When I went through the series again, I thought he was OK, but then I remember someone running behind him but I thought he caught him on the shoulder. Then I was thinking, well, gosh, he must have caught him with a knee. Then I was saying, ‘That was probably the play.’ When I saw him bounce back up and go back out there, I didn’t see him at all and I thought he was fine.”

On their field position today:

“We didn’t run the ball well, and field position was a big part of it. Obviously, we put the defense in a tough bind on the turnover down on the five [yard line] with special teams. We’ve got some young guys out there, and the young guys have made some penalties. It’s not smart – those penalties. Sometimes you get a penalty and you’re like, ‘OK.’ You can understand what happened, but those weren’t smart. When you start off like that, it’s tough.”

On the run defense in first half:

“We missed some tackles. I think we missed some tackles that we clearly had some good opportunities [on]. I think that’s something that we continue to work on and just have to do a better job of.”

On the read option where the Redskins scored a touchdown:

“Assignments – you know we didn’t have anyone on the quarterback. We went and took the faked dive. It’s one of those things that we’ve known and played with for quite a bit – you can’t make those mistakes. You have to defend the whole field and you have to defend everyone that’s ready. To sit up here and make excuses… Hey, we didn’t get the play.”

On limited amount of reps for receivers on the fringe of the offense:

“Well, we had the 15 to 20 plays, wanted to get the guys work. We were going three-and-out quite a bit, so we didn’t get enough work as we wanted to with the other guys. Again, we have another game, and they’ll have another opportunity for some of those younger guys to separate themselves.”

On Spiller’s knee:

“At first when I went out, it was fine. He said, ‘Hey, I’m fine. There’s nothing wrong.’ I don’t know if he was stepped on or hit. But when I saw the doctor moving it around, I thought it might have been something, but he told me he was fine. They wouldn’t say ‘Let’s hold him out,’ and he wanted to go back in there, so we let him back in there. Then, we said ‘That’s it, we’re going to hold him out.’”

On Kolb’s concussion-like symptoms and if he is worried:

“I think that’s why the league has done such a good job with making sure the doctors have a certain protocol and everyone’s involved in those decision processes. Player safety is the number one issue that we’re talking about, so we’ll exhaust every avenue, not just as an organization but we’ve done that as far as a league. For us, you wait and see what the doctors say. I’ve been part of it in college where we’ve had those situations with the players and that’s it, and he can’t go. I have true faith in the league. The league has done a great job and our doctors do an outstanding job.”

On if Kolb will be traveling home with the team:

“I think that’s the doctors’ call. I haven’t been in to see them yet. I talked to the team right after the game. After that, I went with Scott and he made me aware of that other situation, and the doctors were still in the process of evaluating the players.”

On if he was comfortable coming into the preseason with just three quarterbacks:

“Absolutely, absolutely. You look back now and you say maybe because of the injuries, but I knew exactly what we were doing when we came into this season. I wanted the three quarterbacks. I liked all three of them. I wanted to get them ready. I knew I had to give them all the reps that they would need to get ready, and it’s just unfortunate that it came down to this situation.”